Note to future self..
Last weekend I went to LA to spend some time with old friends. I really enjoyed visiting LA for the first time and getting the chance to get out of SF for the first time in a while. Here are two high-level takeaways from the trip
Travel is a great way to hit reset
Although I’ve always enjoyed traveling, I really underestimated the extent to which travel can be a great opportunity to hit reset. I feel that there’s something about leaving your comfort zone and your daily routines that helps shake things up and give you some perspective. Nothing new here but I definitely noticed this from this trip.
Switching Environments & Anti-fragility
A second-order effect that I noticed from my trip last weekend is that changing your environment messes up all of your cues/triggers and it becomes harder to follow your core habits. For example, it’s harder to remember going to the gym in the morning if you’re in a new place where you don’t know exactly where the gym is or how far it is.
I used this trip as a way to “stress test” my system. In other words, could I still follow through with the core habits that represent the backbone of my system even if I was in a completely different environment? The good news is that I was able to do so. What’s even better is that I noticed certain things that I could tweak about my routine!
This got me thinking about how I just threw a wrench into my behavioral system and as a result of that my system actually became stronger!. In other words, my system became anti-fragile.
That’s it for now. Sorry if not all of this makes sense. I am writing quickly before I jump on an Lyft.
Now back to work…